Paper box opener



April 6, 1937. F. E. SMITH 2,076,007

PAPER BOX OPENER Filed Oct. 17, 1935 Fig. 1.

Francis E.Smith (Ittorneg Patented Apr. 6, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to package and carton opening means and more particularly to a tool adapted to open paper boxes and the like.

It is an object of the invention to provide 5 means whereby a paper box, such as is conventionally used for incasing canned goods or the like for transportation, may be readily incised along its top, the junction of its sides or end walls and without destroying a further utility 10 of the box.

As heretofore practiced in the art, particularly upon the premises of grocery stores, canned goods and the like are received packaged in cardboard boxes, said cardboard being conventionally known 15 as straw board which is susceptible of being cut with a sharp edged instrument and after the removal of the contents of said box, the latter is again used for placing individual and assorted purchases of a customer therein for re- 20 tail delivery. Heretofore said boxes have been incised with conventional knives with a conse- -quent loss of time and usually in a manner whereby straight cuts were not made; also said boxes have been opened by tearing the cardboard 25 and destroying the further utility of the box.

The present invention contemplates the provision of means for eliminating the undesired practices of the prior art, said means to be convenient in operation and economical in manu- 30 facture.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

35 In the drawing wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cardboard box with the new opener applied thereto in a 40 position of use.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the invention taken on line 2-2 of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is an end view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

45 Referring now to the drawing for a more particular description, l indicates generally a cardboard or straw board container having a plurality of surfaces or walls, the new opener being generally indicated at H. The invention in- 50 cludes a body member or frame 12 which may be formed of wood or pressed metal or any suitable material having an elongated surface l3 adapted to rest upon a surface of a box and a similar guide surface It disposed at a right angle 55 with respect to the surface l3, said surfaces prefprotecting plate I! in instances where the frame is made of wood.

As best shown in Figure 1 the portion l5 of the body at its forward end is provided with a concaved portion l6 for receiving a thumb plate 10 as later described.

A slot 18 is provided through the surface I3 and at a right angle thereto and, as best shown in Figure 3, is disposed in parallelism with the surface l4 and slightly to one side thereof, said slot being adapted to removably receive a cutting edge or knife IQ for guiding the latter.

Preferably said knife consists of discarded safety razor blades which are removably secured within a carrying frame 20, the latter being U- 20 shaped in cross section and adapted to receive the blade l9 between the legs of said frame. The frame 20 is provided with a thumb or finger plate 2| for facilitating pressing the cutting edge of the blade outwardly of the slot during Operation. The carrying frame 20 is provided with a book 22 adapted to engage apin 23positioned transversely of the slot I8 for providing a pivotal mounting of the blade.

Clamped between the legs of the U-shaped carrying frame 20 or brazed thereto a leaf spring 24 is provided, its forward end, as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 2, being positioned between the legs of said U-frame, the opposite end of said leaf being removably received within a notch or recess 25 provided adjacent the end of the slot l8.

As thus described it will be noted that the carrying frame 20 together with the spring 24 may be removed from the body member I2 of the tool by pushing the frame 20 toward the end 26 of the body member l2. a sufficient distance to compress the spring and release the hook 22 from the pivot pin 23, the spring 24 at this time becoming bowed upwardly to permit the same, the arrangement of parts being such that said razor blades may be readily interchanged.

At times when the frame 20 is detached from the body member l2 the razor blade l9 'may be slipped into the frame 20 as heretofore described, the forward ends of the legs of the U-shaped frame 20 being closed together, as indicated at 21 in Figure 3, for preventing a move ment of the blade past said closed end and when the frame and blade are in the position with respect to the body member [2, as shown in Figure 2, the pivot pin 23 prevents the removal of the blade from its carrying frame 20 in a direction towards said pivot; said frame 20 preferably is formed of slightly resilient metal whereby and at times when the blade 19 is positioned between said legs the latter grip the sides of the blade sufficiently to prevent it from falling out of said carrying frame.

In operation the new tool may be placed upon the edge of the box, as shown in Figure 1, and operated with one hand, the operator pressing downwardly upon the thumb or finger plate 2| for causing the cutting edge of the knife l9 to enter through the cardboard while simultaneously the tool is rapidly moved along the edge of the box, its curved edges 15 facilitating movement of the opener along and in contact with convexed or rough surfaces, said tool being drawn towards the operator whereby a selected edge of the box is incised as at 28 with a single stroke, the cutting blade l9 being spaced away from the surface I4 approximately a distance equal to the thickness of a wall of the box. The operator now moves the tool to a new position with respect to the box for incising the latter as at 29. By this means the box may be severed along three edges for providing a lid or incised along four edgesin instances where no lid is desired hinged to the box.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A paper box opener comprising a frame having two elongated surfaces disposed at a right angle with respect to each other, one of said surfaces having a slot opening therethrough in parallelism with the other of said surfaces, a knife pivotally mounted in the slot and adapted to be guided thereby during swinging movements of the cutting edge of the knife outwardly of said slot, and resilient means for returning said cutting edge within the slot for protecting said edge.

2. An opener for paper boxes comprising a body portion having a longitudinal recess at one side with relatively angularly disposed flat bearing walls adapted to slidably engage adjoining walls of a box, said body portion having a longitudinal slot therein opening through one of said walls and disposed in a plane spaced from and substantially parallel to the plane of the other wall, said body portion further having a depression at one end opening into the slot, a blade holder pivoted at one end in the slot and extending into the depression and adapted to support a blade for movement in the slot, and a spring mounted on the body portion and engaging the blade holder to normally urge the blade into retracted position in the slot, said blade hplder adapted to be depressed for projecting the edge of the blade into cutting position beyond the slot.

FRANCIS E. SMITH. 

